The present invention relates to portable tool trays or benches of the character used by mechanics working on engine components within the vehicle engine compartment.
Vehicle benches of this type have been suggested to support a variety of the tools employed by the mechanic as well as the myriad small parts which the mechanic may have to remove from time to time and then reinstall. The portable benches or trays of this character which have been previously proposed, to our knowledge, have not been considered sufficiently practical to economically market.
While prior art trays have been suggested for spanning the engine compartment and seating upon the hood supporting flange configurations laterally adjacent the engine compartment, they have not provided the advantages inherent in the use of the tray of the present invention. Normally, as mechanics work on automobile engines, they tend to support tools and parts on some of the components of the engine, such as the top of the air cleaner housing and, frequently, such parts and tools are inadvertently dislodged from these temporary supports and drop down within the engine compartment where they can be lost or, at least, difficult to retrieve.
Another problem which is encountered is the storage of parts which have been removed when a particular job cannot be completed in one day and the parts removed must be stored overnight.
Still further, a tray to be marketable for the purposes indicated needs to be readily installable in position by one person, advantageously without the necessity of locking its parts in position or adjusting the position of the tray support legs.
The present invention is concerned with an engine mechanics tool tray adapted to be supported on the laterally opposed edge ledge configurations of a vehicle engine compartment and incorporates an elongate open-ended base tray or platform section with an accessible bottom wall and longitudinally extending side walls. The side walls can function as longitudinal guide members and endwisely extensible end drawers or platforms with accessible bottom walls, longitudinally extending side walls, and end walls, are telescopically slideable into the open ends of the base tray section to a first retracted position in which the bottoms of the drawers are supported substantially in engagement with the bottom of the base tray section. In this position, in which the tray is ready for transport, tools and parts may be stored in the end drawers. On their outer ends, the drawers have downwardly and outwardly inclined support ends for supporting the tray on the hood-supporting flanges of a vehicle which has its hood raised, when the drawers are extended outwardly to a second position, without a need for locking the support ends in a particular position.
One of the prime objects of the present invention is to design an extensible tool tray device which can be used on a wide variety of vehicles having engine compartments of different size and configuration.
A further object of the invention is to provide a more easily operative tool tray which, basically, can simply have its drawers extended to the extent required for the support legs to engage and be supported upon the hood supporting flanges of the engine compartment without a need for adjusting or locking the legs in a particular position.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a tool tray of extremely practical nature which can be readily and economically manufactured and marketed for the use of mechanics.
Still another object of the invention is to provide a tray which is very flexible in use and in which, regardless of the extent of partial extensibility, can fit smaller size engine compartments.
Another further object of the invention is to provide a portable tray of the character mentioned which supports the tools in a convenient raised position above the engine components for ready access and which has platforms or drawers, which are so configured with handle surfaces, that the platforms are very easily extended to the proper position for support within the engine compartment.
Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent with reference to the accompanying drawings and the accompanying descriptive matter.